Bhoys on crest of a title wave

Neil Lennon believes his Celtic players will still be savouring the taste of league title success when they tackle Hearts at Hampden today (12.45) in their Scottish Cup semi-final.

The cup holders clinched the Scottish Premier League championship last Saturday in fine style with a 6-0 win over Kilmarnock at Rugby Park.

Manager Lennon insists securing the title for the first time in four years will fire up his players as they look to win the double.

"You get a taste for it," said the former Hoops captain. The players would have woken up on Sunday morning with a huge smile on their face and, I'm sure, with immense satisfaction with what they have achieved.

"And then you go again. You want more once you taste it. We won the Scottish Cup last year and that gave them and me a real taste of success and as a manager you want as many trophies on your CV as possible.

"And we are going for the fourth domestic final in a row and that's enough (in itself) to incentivise the players. At the end of the day it's a cup final, it's a great day, a showpiece occasion and we want to be there.

"We are the holders of the trophy and we want to keep it if we can, but we have to beat Hearts and we will have to play well to do so."